In China Abbas ignores Israeli escalation in Jerusalem

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas ignored the Israeli escalation in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque during a speech he delivered in China yesterday, Al-Resalah newspaper reported.

Abbas spoke for more than 20 minutes in the Chinese Academy of Governance in Beijing. He did not mention the Israeli escalation against the holy city, its mosque and the Palestinian worshippers who have been banned from entering the mosque without undergoing intrusive searches since Friday.

Meanwhile, he announced his support for the peace initiative of Chinese President Xi Jinping, which calls for achieving a two-state solution between Israel and the PA, as well as boosting security cooperation with Israel.

He noted that he is ready to cooperate with China to agree on mechanisms to realise this initiative.

Read: China voices support for Palestine

The PA chief also declared his support for holding Chinese-Palestinian-Israeli political conferences in China to examine ways to advance peace in the Middle East region.

“Our hands are extended to peace in spite of the suffering we are facing from the occupation, settlements, repression and violence,” news agencies reported him saying. “We look forward to getting back to negotiations,” he reiterated.

He added: “We look forward to the role of your country, China, the international Quartet, the Arab states, the Security Council and the effective countries in making peace a reality in the land of peace.”

#Abbas

After clashes that led to the death of three Palestinian citizens and two Israeli policemen inside Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday, Israel closed Al-Aqsa compound and later on installed electronic detectors for Palestinian worshipers to go through.

The Palestinians refused to go through these detectors because, they say, they reinforce Israeli sovereignty over the Muslim compound.

“Our entry to Al-Aqsa Mosque is already controlled by the Israeli occupation,” one of the worshipers was reported saying. “These detectors would make it more difficult and will result in long queues,” he added.